The first ever Online Tourism Day will be held in Ho Chi Minh City on July 5.

Vinh Hy Bay in Ninh Thuan Province, an increasingly popular tourist destination of Vietnam

The potential of e-commerce and the online travel market, policies to develop the online travel market, the influence of technology, social media and low-cost airlines on the tourism sector will be among the topics discussed at the event.

Experts will speak to local travel agents and hotels about how to adjust their business strategies and adopt technological solutions.

According to the World Tourism Organisation, Asia and the Pacific have seen unprecedented growth in tourism, far above the world average, fuelled by demographic, economic and technological changes in recent decades.

The technological revolution and the ensuing influence of the social media have been major contributory factors in the growth, it said.

The rise of the free and independent traveller who uses online travel agents instead of the traditional package tour operators has changed the market place, it said. 

A study by Google forecasts the Southeast Asian online travel market to reach 90 billion USD by 2025 from 22 billion USD in 2015.

Hotels and airlines will account for 77 billion USD, making up 85 percent of the total online travel market.

Low cost carriers will drive most of the growth due to their prominence in Southeast Asia and greater online penetration.

The Online Tourism Day will be organised by the Vietnam E-commerce Association, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, and Vietnam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency.  

In the first half of the year, the number of foreign tourists visiting Vietnam soared 30 percent year-on-year to 6.2 million, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

VNA